Fenestraz, Ticktum Lead the Way in Nurburgring Practices

Daniel Ticktum set the best time of the day at the Nurburgring on Friday - Credit: Gregory Eyckmans

The third round of the 2017 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup got underway on Friday with two free practice sessions at the Nurburgring, with Sacha Fenestraz and Daniel Ticktum leading the way.

Both Fenestraz and Ticktum are making their first NEC appearances of the season, as are their respective teams Josef Kaufmann Racing and Arden Motorsport, and after just eight cars made the trip to the previous round at Assen, fifteen are present this weekend in Germany.

Fenestraz, who raced at the same circuit last weekend in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship (albeit on the shorter layout) and is the championship leader of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series in 2017, set the fastest time of the first session with a 1:59.944s, six-tenths of a second ahead of Ticktum.

Current NEC championship leader Gilles Magnus was third for R-ace GP, albeit more than a second off the overall best time, with Gabriel Aubry, the winner of the opening two races of the season at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, was fourth fastest for Tech 1 Racing ahead of R-ace GP duo Michael Benyahia and Charles Milesi.

Luis Leeds, another Eurocup also making his first appearance in the championship, was seventh for Josef Kaufmann Racing, ahead of R-ace GP’s Theo Coicaud, while James Pull, making his debut in Formula Renault 2.0 for Josef Kaufmann Racing, was ninth ahead of Tech 1 Racing’s Thomas Maxwell.

Ticktum hit the front in the much faster second session with a best of 1:56.649s, just 0.021 seconds faster than Fenestraz, with Aubry third ahead of Milesi, Magnus and Benyahia.